RuAviation

The Russian Federation terminates its participation in the dispute with Australia and the Netherlands over the case of the crash on 17 July 2014 of Malaysia Airlines B777 flight MH17 on the route Amsterdam – Kuala Lumpur. This is stated in the report of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

In March 2022, Australia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands filed a lawsuit in the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) against Russia over the crash of the Malaysian plane. Russia was accused of violating Article 3 bis of the Chicago Convention, which prohibits the use of weapons against civilian aircraft. In March 2023, the ICAO Council recognised its competence to hear the dispute, despite Russia’s objections. Russia did not accept the Council’s competence in the case, but continued to participate, expecting a professional dialogue on the plane crash.

On the Russian side, the ICAO Council was asked to conduct an independent international investigation into the crash, as required by UN Security Council Resolution 2166 (2014) and the ICAO Rules for the Resolution of Disputes, but the Council declined. The earlier technical investigation by the Dutch Safety Board (NSC) and the criminal investigation by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) do not fulfil such criteria, the Foreign Ministry said.

In addition, Russian investigators were not fully involved in the investigation, and its final conclusions contain a significant number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies.

The mechanism for resolving disagreements in ICAO does not guarantee impartiality, as the Council is made up of representatives of member states making decisions on instructions from their governments. Russia proposed to remove the 12 member states that initially held Russia responsible for the disaster from voting on the case, but this proposal was rejected. The ICAO Council also ignored the 31 January 2024 decision of the UN International Court of Justice, which rejected claims that Russia was responsible for the MH17 disaster. The Council’s refusal to conduct an independent investigation and ignoring the ICJ judgement are serious obstacles to an objective examination of the case.

“In such circumstances, it is impossible to speak about unbiased fact-finding and even more so about a fair decision. The ICAO Council is not the right place to search for the truth. It makes no sense for us to be a part of the ‘spectacle’ that has been started in it,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry added that unlike the biased majority in the Council, Russia remains committed to UN Security Council Resolution 2166 (2014).

“In the ICAO Council, the Westerners and their satellites let them deal with each other now. We cease our participation in this farce. Russia does not recognise the Council’s authority to consider the Australian and Dutch innuendos and any decisions it will make.”